The America Red Cross is a non-profit organization whose operations began in the year 1881. The organization was created with the objective of providing first aid services to different people and offer clean water. Additionally, the organization was established with the goal of developing nursing programs to address various emergency issues in the society. One of the most significant contributions of the company was the nationwide blood drive, which it started after World War II to assist the victims of war (The American Red Cross, 2016).
It is the mission of the company to “Prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors” (The American Red Cross, 2016). The organization mission is based on the fact that people go through a lot of pain and suffering especially in the times of calamities and as a results there people out in the society who are willing to support such victims but lacked an organization to coordinate their support.
Some Of The Functions Of The American Red Cross Include:
· Offering disaster relief to affected individuals- from small house fires to national natural disasters- the organization provides its services to where they are needed. They provide safe shelter, water, food, clothing and other medical related services to victims of disasters.
· The organization also provides more than 40% blood and blood products supply required in the US.
· American Red Cross also provides fitness and safety training and educations to address the daily healthy emergencies
· The organization works closely with military families to assist them in coping with the state of living away from their loved ones.
· They provide urgent assistance to people across the globe affected by disasters, reconnecting families separated by disaster and war, and vaccinating children against diseases such as measles across the world.
Major Fundraising Principle
According to Weinstein (2009), non-profit organizations need to remain flexible, and their operations must be developed in agreement with the primary values that fosters success in fundraising. These fundamental principles include:
People give to people to help people
This policy suggests that organizations do not have needs but people do, and therefore, donors give with the intention of investing in other people in that their donation is only aimed at enhancing services for people who need assistance. Based on this principle, the American Red Cross would only benefit from donations if it demonstrates to its donors where their donations go regarding offering services and assistance to the needy.
People give relative to their needs
This belief is based on the idea that donors tend to give to an organization like Red Cross, relative to what other donors give. Therefore, if the American Red Cross leaders were to announce that a given religious organization in the region donated about $100,000, the many donors would conclude that their donation could be proportionately lower. Other would think they should give more than the religious organization. The principle, therefore, suggests that to raise the required amount, the American Red Cross organization would, therefore, create various levels of gift opportunities’ to ensure that every individual or organization poor, rich and in between has the opportunity to donate towards the course (Weinstein, 2009).
The closest must set the pace
The idea behind this principle is that those closest to the organization must have faith in the projects of the organization and give generously. Based on this idea, for the American Red Cross to be successful in its operations, Americans need to have faith in the firm, and significantly donate to support its operations in and out of the country. This aspect will, compel outsiders to donate to the company.
Successful fundraising
According to Weinstein, “Successful fundraising is the right person asking the right prospect for the right amount for the right project at the right time in the right way.” This implies that the organization can successfully raise funds by asking the right amount to the right people through the methods and at the right time. This may involve selecting the right individuals to create the most appealing messages to the donors and make the positive impact on many lives (Weinstein, 2009).
The 80/20 rule is becoming the 90/10 rule
This policy is based on the idea that 80% or more of the collected funds usually come from not more than 20% of the donors. In fundraising, especially mature fundraising programs the top 10% now donate 90% of the amount raised. Therefore, the organization needs to encourage the top 10-20 percent donors to have successful fundraising campaigns.
Need for funding
According to the American Red Cross, 91 cents of every dollar the organization receives is invested in humanitarian services and programs. Therefore the organization requires funds to collect blood, test it, manufacture blood and its products, and distribute it to various health organizations. Secondly, the organization requires funds for responding to a disaster, which are estimated to be around 66,000 disasters per year. The third priority for funds in the organization is to provide emergency services to more than 350,000 armed forces and their families. The fourth priority for funding is to deliver health and safety course as well as preparedness courses like CPR and first aid. The fifth priority is to fund relief programs across the globe. The sixth priority is to fund community services such as transportation and food banks programs (The American Red Cross 2016).
SWOT Analysis of the American Red Cross
The analysis provides an internal analysis of the organization using the SWOT analysis. This includes an analysis of the firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Gliffy, 2012).
Strengths of the American Red Cross
· The organization is respected and trusted for its services to the public
· The brand of the firm is quickly recognized
· Viewed as having and providing value to the community
· Largest steward of blood and blood products supplier in the country
· Partner with Federal Emergency Management Agency
· Massive support from the government
Weaknesses
· Fines for misconduct influence the management of finances of the organization
· The board of directors is large and cannot be managed effectively
· Funds are not appropriated adequately to infrastructure of organization
· Internal struggle between the management of the firm and its board of directors
· Frequent turnovers at the highest ranks of the firm
· Mismanagement of funds by local chapters
· Failure to meet the needs of victims
· Inability to respond quickly to unforeseen disasters such as the 9/11 attacks
Opportunities
· Finding partner organizations
· Making the brand more appealing to the younger generation
· Attracting more racial and ethnic minorities to the volunteer base
· Increase contributions from donors through proficient education of the organization’s mission
· Transparency of the company’s internal management could increase trust
· Allowing deeper relationships between the donors and the organization
· Development of innovative methods to generate funds
Threats
· Competition from other non-profit organizations in time of economic crisis
· Negative press
· Perception of contaminated and mishandling of the supply of blood
The reasons for selecting this assessment tool is that it assist showing the areas the organization can focus to increase its performance as well as minimizing the threats the firm faces. Besides, this tool (SWOT) shows the opportunities that can be utilized by the company to increase its performance and in this case funding from donors (Gretzky, 2010).